ive got a catalina 22 swing keel and there is a strange pully atatched to a steel cable that is attatched to the top of the mast where the backstay meets the top any ideas on what this is it has no other line its directly attatched to the top no play in it....

If there is a attachment point for a pendent just fwd and at the bottom of the backstay, it could have been used as a halyard pulley for a stabilizing sail....or flag halyard that used the backstay as anchoring points. Pic might help? My best guess....

mayb i need a better description it is a steel cable about as thick as the shrouds that attatches to the after part of the mast right next to the backstay and it reaches to about the base of the boom next to the mast and at the very end is a pully and thts it

That's your topping lift. I'll bet you have block mounted on one side of the boom, and a cleat a short distance forward of that. On the other side of the boom you probably have a padeye. A short line gets attached to the padeye, then it goes up around the block on the end of the cable and down around the block on the boom, and then to the cleat.

thats a sounds exactly right is it to hold up the boom when your taking down the sail and the sails down? if so then its useless to me because theres a clip comin off the backstay on a short piece of cable but if there is another use for it please tell me

I'm not a racer, but I think it can be used to adjust the boom for racing. It's adjustable to let out so you can flatten the sail, not sure about lifting.

One good feature is that if you raise the main, bear off and still have the boom attached to the clip on the backstay, that can be embarrasing/difficult to deal with. With the topping lift, it's always up and out of the cockpit.

A topping lift allows you to reef the mainsail without starting the engine. The clip coming off the backstay can only be used if the boat is pointing into the wind and held there while you finish the reef.

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